Sith's Tale
by Catnipsy
Summary: A story about Dazlio, a Sith apprentice. Does she got what it takes?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Sith's Tale  
  
Authors: A and Farore  
  
Genre: Adventure/Angst, slightly AU  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Timeline: Somewhere around Episode I  
  
Archive: Please ask first.  
  
Disclaimer: All the original Star Wars characters belong to George Lucas etc. We make no money out of this.  
  
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Sith's Tale  
  
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Chapter 1  
  
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A pair of humans was engaged in a lightsabre duel. The taller one, a red head, moved smoother than the black-haired apprentice. They could have been just a couple of normal Jedi. But when exploring the battle scene thoroughly you could see the sabres having a red glow. The tactics were also far from the Jedi.  
  
"Attack me Dazlio, attack! Can't you do better than that? You've got the skills of a lousy initiate!" shouted the master.  
  
The apprentice gritted her teeth and with a sudden boost of anger swished toward the master's hip. A useless attack it seemed. In an instant the master blocked the sabre with her own, kicked Dazlio on the chest because of which the apprentice lost her sabre, and Force-pushed her lying on her stomach on the floor.  
  
The girl was exhausted and couldn't move an inch. They'd been duelling for 2 hours without a single break even though it was the youngster's first time with a one-bladed sabre. The master stood above her. Dazlio's heart raced - she knew she'd pay dearly for the mistake.  
  
"Anger and fear are our tools, and they're much more powerful in use than what the feelings Jedi represent. Nevertheless there's a danger that they'll make you blind if you don't use common sense. Got it?"  
  
"Yeh, mastrrrr..." Daz' voice was barely audible. She watched the world through half closed lids behind a grey haze. She was about to pass out until she felt a weight on her back that took the air out of her lungs. Some of her ribs cracked.  
  
Darth Elmikk, her left foot on Dazlio, forced the apprentice's head backwards by pulling strongly on her braided hair: "GOT IT?"  
  
Daz gathered as much air as she could through the agony and managed to speak out loud: "Yes, master!"  
  
The master released her. "Now let your fear for the punishment boost you to get up. Face it like a woman!"  
  
The apprentice indeed was panicked and didn't notice the inside joke. She could stand up a bit unsteadily only with a little Force suggestion from her master. Her eyes went wide and she gasped when she saw what was on her master's palm.  
  
"No, master, please, don't!" She tried to speak between ragged breaths.  
  
"Sith don't plead for mercy! You think your slip wasn't that a big deal? I could have killed you easily! Now get down on your knees!" she hissed.  
  
Dazlio could only obey.  
  
Elmikk paced around her in a semi-circle. Daz eyed the black Ansionian beetle-like device with yellow lightning streaks. It had only two buttons - the other to determine the intensity and the other to engage the torture. Her hands trembled uncontrollably and she hardly heard the master's words.  
  
"You need to learn to love the pain. It tells you that you are alive, and when you are alive there is still something you can do." She took a step closer to Dazlio and gave her an electric shock. Dazlio cried out of pain. It hurt so much. She knew that she should've been quiet but she just couldn't help it. She had to cry aloud.  
  
"You need to be silent, my apprentice. We'll end this when you are quiet." And she pushed the engage button again.  
  
Dazlio wasn't able to be silent. She cried again. Her master shocked her once again and Dazlio welcomed the blackness as she fainted. Elmikk knelt down to her apprentice and took her in her arms and carried the apprentice to her quarters.  
  
She put Dazlio on the bed and sat next to her. Elmikk took care Dazlio's wounds. She made it as quickly as possible because it was the way how her 19 year-old apprentice would suffer the least.  
  
"You know, I don't enjoy doing this. I just have to make sure you're strong enough for our future mission among the Jedi. They will not be gentle if they catch us." Mikk just sat there next to Dazlio as long as the girl woke up.  
  
Daz was greeted with a migraine when she opened her eyes to meet the gaze of her master. She looked at her own hands behind half closed lids and could see deep already healing scars on the underside of her wrists. The side effect of the Burner - so they called the machine she hated so much. She'd been through hundreds of ways of different torture or 'punishment' techniques during the years trapped in here. She just wanted to leave this place so badly, but knew there was no place she could run away from the guarding eye of Sidious. She'd only succeed in that either dead or as a full grown Sith.  
  
Neither of the choices appealed to her.  
  
She turned her attention back to the scars. They would heal soon, and somehow she felt glad they wouldn't leave a permanent mark. She pitied herself for thinking such vain thoughts, remembering her whining in the fear of the latest punishment. How could she be like this? After all the hard work Elmikk had done to harden her mind she just felt more and more emotionally torn - and weak.  
  
She was interrupted by the sound of her master.  
  
"How are you, Daz?" She asked, gently touching the youngster's arm. Daz mumbled something incoherent and tried to move, but stopped as she felt a stinging pain in her chest. Her cry was muffled by Mikk's palm on her mouth. "Shh, don't yell. You can never let anyone see if you're suffering. The enemy will learn they got an advantage over you." She waited until the apprentice calmed down, taking air in sharp pants. "Sorry about not working on the ribs before, though." Mikk placed her other hand on Daz' chest and closed her eyes. A cool breeze swept over Daz and she fell in an uneasy sleep.  
  
TBC if you review!! 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
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Chapter 2  
  
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After a couple of days Dazlio listened her master's lecture about clothing. Yes, about clothes. She was getting bored. And it didn't take Elmikk long to figure this out.  
  
"Are you bored, my apprentice?"  
  
"N-no..."  
  
"Oh, stop lying if you can't do it properly and I know that you aren't telling the truth to me. Now let me ask you again: are you bored?"  
  
"Yes master." She didn't even blink when she looked at her master, who after a while smiled unexpectedly warmly.  
  
"And you also look like you're bored. Now what can we do about it... We are going dress and make you up and tonight at Palpatine's birthday party. Then you go and try to get some male to do something for you. With the help of your looks" ,she said smiling and winked, "it won't be that bad, you know. "  
  
Daz just smiled. She enjoyed her master's company when she wasn't beating the crap out of her.  
  
And then they started to get ready. For a while they were just two girls who enjoyed life and had a great time. And Daz just loved it. Moments like these she didn't have to be ready for physical suffering. And more important she felt mentally safe. She hadn't had that feeling since her family had died. The Jedi had killed them. They would never admit that they did it, murdered her whole family, but Daz knew it and it was enough for her. And one day she would get back at them.  
  
"What do you think? Which one of these lipstick colors looks better on me?" asked Mikk.  
  
Daz: "That one you have on your right hand. Why are you so nervous? C'mon tell me who is it that you wish to see there?" she asked teasingly.  
  
"You'll see once we're there, " Mikk said. The apprentice rolled her eyes.  
  
"By the way, remember to shield your thoughts well. There will be Jedi involved in this occasion, too."  
  
"Yes, master." Daz felt anger surge with the word Jedi.  
  
"And you cannot carry the sabre with you either."  
  
"But... what if the Jedi attack?"  
  
"They won't when they don't know who you really are. Besides, the party's held on a public place. The Jedi have an image to keep, they wouldn't dare to do anything like that."  
  
"I understand, master."  
  
"And one more thing, my apprentice."  
  
"Yes, master?"  
  
"This night we'll call each other only by names. Is that clear, Dazlio?"  
  
"Yes, mas - I mean Elmikk."  
  
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Daz was slowly sipping her drink. Her master had warned her about having too much alcohol - people got to hostile situations more often when being drunk. She'd had a good demonstration on it as Elmikk had once made her drink more than she could handle. There was no way she could defend herself from Elmikk's attacks and they hadn't even used lightsabres.  
  
A band started playing music as she waited for a possible victim. "It's easy to make men do whatever you desire by just wearing the perfect outfit and a seductive smile," Elmikk always said, in which Daz added: "You get the most pleasure when first using a man and then throwing him away as soon as he begins to think he's got a chance."  
  
There was one at her sight now. A non-Force user. With the click of her fingers the man came straight to her. Such a weak and easy mind.  
  
"The name's Tarkin, " the twenty something guy said. "I couldn't help to notice such a beautiful girl as you all alone in here."  
  
She smiled what actually was supposed to be sarcastic. "Dazlio." The music took a slower beat. "Would you like to dance with me?" Tarkin asked. "Sure." She left the empty glass on a tray and grabbed his expecting hand.  
  
On the dance floor he drew her as close as possible. 'Pushy type, I see' she thought. As they danced Daz put her head on his shoulder. After a while talking she looked at him and let her face hover dangerously close at his. He closed the gap and pressed his lips against hers.  
  
This was the time for her to act. She slapped him on the face and jumped back. "How dare you?" She created a terrified look on his face. Some people nearby turned to look at them. A hand appeared on her shoulder. "Is there a problem, miss?" She pointed a pretended shaky finger at Tarkin: "This man came on to me even though I said no!" A guard captured Tarkin and begun to reel him out. "But, but that's not how it went!" She heard him explaining something to the guard who threw him out. She'd won!  
  
The man that had interfered first gazed inspectingly at her. "That wasn't a nice prank you pulled there."  
  
"You have no means to prove it. I just don't get it how you could see it through."  
  
"Jedi tend to see things others cannot." Dazlio screamed inwardly. A Jedi? All that she wanted was to see him cut in half by her sabre. But she didn't have it with her. And something else clicked inside her brains. This could be a great chance to learn more about the enemy.  
  
"My name's Dazlio," she said.  
  
TBC  
  
Please review!! 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
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Chapter 3  
  
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"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said shaking Daz' hand. "But I won't say nice to meet you because of what you did to that guy."  
  
Daz' smile died on her lips and she hissed: " You know nothing about me and my reasons. You don't know me so don't judge me. And you're supposed to be a Jedi. Don't they usually try to be objective about things?" She was near tears and she didn't know why.  
  
'Oh, Force don't start to cry Daz! You know what would happen if you do! Now think the punishment what would come of it!' And she got a grip of herself.  
  
Obi-Wan was stunned. He had no idea that this lady would react that way. He  
  
became more interested about her. And after a while he said apologizingly "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. Yes, us Jedi should try to see everything in a big scale and try to get the reasons behind peoples' actions. Now if you would let me to take you dancing as an apology... ?"  
  
Dazlio thought about the suggestion for a while. "Ok, I'll dance with you, but don't think that you're forgiven," she said smiling flirtatively.  
  
They walked to the dance floor. 'Force, he's a great dancer! But he is a Jedi!' a voice in her head reminded her. 'And Jedi killed your family! Now stop drooling after him and focus on your task! Still he has the most amazing eyes...Oh, stop! The task! Remember about your task!'  
  
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Obi-Wan didn't seem as bad as what Dazlio had heard of the Jedi. He was considerate and kind and had an interesting sounding life. The incident before was totally forgotten and both of them just laughed and blend in the cheery crowd.  
  
They'd been dancing and talking quite a bit when Elmikk reached Dazlio. Elmikk had her date on her elbow - a tall man with red and black tatooed face and horns on his skull. Daz laughed inwardly - she'd guessed right! Her master had the strangest taste in men and Darth Maul just had to be on her list.  
  
Elmikk waved her hand at Daz.  
  
"Hey, could we have a pause for a while?" Dazlio said to Obi-Wan. "I have to talk to someone." They came closer to Elmikk and Maul. Obi-Wan was appalled to see this man. 'That Sith, I did kill him, right? It wasn't some kind of mindtrick, was it?' His fists clenched but he let his rage go. This party was no place for a massacre. Besides, neither of them had weapons along.  
  
"Hi Daz. I see you got company as well."  
  
"Yes, mas-" She could see Mikk's eyes burn in the dim light "-um mum." Daz blushed. "This is Obi-Wan. Meet Elmikk and - Maul."  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
"Um, Dazlio, I need to speak to you in private." She took an almost crushing grip on Daz' hand. Daz swallowed hard. Mikk lead her towards the refresher corridor and slammed her against the wall.  
  
"What do you think you're doing making friends with a Jedi? Without asking me? Haven't I taught you anything??"  
  
"I - I thought I could just find out more of them."  
  
"You were falling for him and his lies! I could feel that!"  
  
"But I had shields -" she stopped. She'd just given herself a death sentence.  
  
"You know they don't work against me! Besides, it was very stupid of you to think you could hide."  
  
Fear lit on the apprentice's eyes. "I'm sorry, master, I won't do it again."  
  
"Better not. And don't call me master here." Mikk sighed. "Now, see what you can find about him. Carefully! I'll be watching over you. Remember, Jedi are the ones we hate the most. No matter how goody-good they might appear they're still rotten inside." Daz just nodded.  
  
They got back to the ballroom. Mikk turned to Dazlio once more. "Remember, Daz, we will talk about this later." Her eyes bore into Daz'.  
  
"And you will suffer."  
  
Meanwhile Obi-Wan and Maul were standing near the dance floor and they tried to have a small talk. It wasn't a great success as both of them tried very hard not to reveal anything important to the other companion.  
  
"So...It's a nice day..." Obi-Wan tried to build a conversation. He didn't succeed very well.  
  
"Yes, beautiful indeed." Maul muttered. "So, what have you been doing?"  
  
"Oh, nothing much. And how about you. What have you been doing - beside glueing yourself back together?" Obi-Wan was getting irritated with the whole conversation.  
  
"Seriously, you really thought YOU could finish me off?"  
  
"Well, yeah!"  
  
Awkward silence fell over the two of them. Maul concentrated on sipping his drink while Obi-Wan was trying his best not to cut Maul in half again. 'Not at the party, not at the party...' He muttered himself trying to calm down.  
  
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Dazlio froze because what her master had just said. Of course she knew that  
  
there would be a punishment for her actions, but she just couldn't help it at that moment when she could've back down. "Yes, mass... Mikk. I understand."  
  
"No, I don't think you do. Not very well anyway. But don't worry, I'll explain it to you when we're alone. Now shall we get back to our...hmmm...dance partners?" Mikk said smirking.  
  
"Yes, I think we should do that before they kill each other or worse..." Daz smiled. "And Elmikk, just one question, *Maul*?"  
  
Mikk's smile widened: "Hmm, why not? And now I have one question to you which may help you undertstand things little better, Daz, a *Jedi*?"  
  
They both started to walk toward their partners and smiled at the way.  
  
'Oh, Force, what is taking them so long?' though Obi-Wan, 'I can't stand this anymore. If they don't come soon, I just come up with an excuse and leave...' Just after he had thought this Daz and Mikk came back.  
  
"There you are! We almost got worried about you two." Maul said looking Mikk intensively.  
  
Mikk just laughed. "Well, you know, girls got to powder their noses every now and then."  
  
'Women!' Obi-Wan thought just before he was pulled to the dance floor once again by Daz.  
  
TBC 


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for the reviews. If you haven't reviewed please do so that we know people read this.  
  
Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
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Chapter 4  
  
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Dazlio unlocked the door to her and Elmikk's apartment with a wave of her hand. She was glad she couldn't sense her master, as there were issues to meditate on: were all Jedi like the one she met at the party? She had heard many awful stories of them by Elmikk, but now she wasn't sure anymore... And if they were like she suspected, what were the reasons for her family being murdered?  
  
But did she care about reasons? 'Let them just suffer like I did!' a voice said in her head.  
  
"Yes, I'll make them pay!"  
  
But this particular Jedi would be unharmed.  
  
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Elmikk didn't come home until breakfast. "Morning, master. I presume you haven't got much sleep last night?" said Dazlio with a smirk.  
  
"You're darn right about that," the master yawned. "And before you ask, I'm not in love with him, I'm just sleeping with him."  
  
"But you got no intention on throwing him away shortly?" Daz winked.  
  
"Nope. Not with that hot body of his. And hey, how many did you get?"  
  
"Just two, some guy called Tarkin and -" Daz begun staring at the floor and breathed through a tightened throat. "-the Jedi."  
  
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Dazlio sat on a bench, waiting to be examined by a doctor. Elmikk had given her a lecture on how she'd need to know when to act herself and when to ask her master first. And she'd also heard one more of the awful stories about the Jedi. Afterwards she was given her punishment. Elmikk had cruelly beat her up. Her bruises would have been curable without any special treatment if it wasn't for the fact Elmikk had also crushed her fingers.  
  
Elmikk entered the waiting area and put a hand on Daz'. She winced at the pain and scowled at her master. "They'll take us in now," Elmikk said coolly. Obediently, she followed.  
  
A couple of nurses hovered around her as they spread bacta gel on Daz' bruises. Her hands were soaking on a healing liquid while she was questioned by the police. Elmikk claimed Dazlio was too upset to talk, so she told herself a made up story about how she was attacked on the street in the lower levels of Coruscant. Daz just nodded to all of this. Inside she was boiling with rage. Her master's lies were perfect. She just wished she could fight back the next time. But it was unlikely - that would cause just extra punishments. How she hated Darth Elmikk!  
  
'Some day, I will kill her!' she thought and gave a menacing look to her so- called mentor. The police were just leaving to trace the imagined attacker.  
  
"That's just what Sidious expects of you. What I'd wished was you'd gang up with me to slaughter him," Elmikk whispered to her ear.  
  
Daz shivered. She would need time to meditate on her master's suggestion.  
  
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After a couple of days Daz was at the library, looking for information about her family. The results were surprising: database had nothing about them. It could only mean one thing, they were not important in any way. 'And in that case the Jedi wouldn't have had any reason to kill them' Daz reasoned, 'Which leads to the question: did they really kill my family, and if not then who did it?' Immediately Daz rushed to Jedi-information section spending the rest of the day there as well as the rest of the week. The more she read the clearer it became.  
  
During another sparring session Daz decided to find out how much her master actually knew about the situation.  
  
"Your guard is pitiful. Maybe you shouldn't spend so much time in the library and concentrate on this instead." Mikk snapped.  
  
"Maybe you shouldn't lie to me about the Jedi so much. They couldn't have killed my family," Daz sneered.  
  
"Hold your tongue or you're going to loose it!"  
  
"Do you really think that I'm scared of you? Tell me, did you know that the Jedi didn't kill my family?"  
  
"Yes, of course I knew. I'm your master after all. Now shut up before you really make me angry."  
  
At this point Daz just couldn't stop anymore. "You knew? You KNEW! And you didn't tell me the truth! How could you? You are even worse than the Jedi! And I'll get out of here as soon as possible!"  
  
"Don't you never EVER compare me with those scum! And if it's up to me you will never leave here." With that Elmikk let the Dark Side control her completely, passing Daz' guard and piercing her chest. Daz collapsed to the floor, first gagging then motionless. A puddle of blood formed right of her.  
  
Elmikk just stood there watching her apprentice suffer. Then it came to her: she probably had just killed Dazlio. The only person she cared if only just a little bit. Then she lifted her apprentice up and started to run.  
  
TBC 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
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Chapter 5  
  
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Daz flickered between consciousness and coma. When she finally woke the first thing she saw were shades of green. It took a while for her to understand that she wasn't dead but in a bacta tank. A small bacta tank. And then suddenly she couldn't breath. It felt like the walls were closing in on her. She couldn't move or shout. She had just to hang there and soon she would die because she couldn't breath.  
  
"Great. Now she is having a panic attack." Murmured a nurse after looking at the monitors. She turned Daz' respirator on and gave her a dose of sedatives. And suddenly Daz was feeling quite cheery. And she fell asleep.  
  
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Elmikk had been summoned before Sidious. She tried to meditate to keep calm on the waiting room. The pain wasn't something she feared for - she'd already passed that stage. She wondered if this time Sidious would execute her. What would it feel like to be dead?  
  
She hadn't heard a word of Dazlio. As soon as she'd carried her to the hospital nearby Maul had hunted her down and brought her back.  
  
For all the horror images of people dying by the slash of her sabre, seeing Daz convulsing, almost drained of blood on her arms was the worst. Not that she cared of the others. Not even the apprentices she had had.  
  
The durasteel door hissed open and she entered.  
  
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"My lord..."  
  
"Darth Elmikk, I must say I'm mostly displeased to your ways of training. This is the third time you're killing an apprentice! Yes, the two before were quite useless, but this Dazlio clearly showed some talent."  
  
"I know, my lord, and I'm deeply sorry for my actions -"  
  
"Whatever. It seems you still haven't learned."  
  
Elmikk felt a mind invading hers. At first she strengthened her guard but it diminished to oblivion. It was like she was being held as a prisoner in her own body and mind. She couldn't do anything when the pain hit her. She was feeling everything that Sidious' victims had gone through in his hands. And finally she could only scream.  
  
Last thing she heard was Sidious evil voice: "You're lucky that she is alive."  
  
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When Dazlio woke up it was quiet. She was confused. She really thought that her master had succeeded in killing her this time. Obviously she had failed or if not then life after death surely wasn't anything she had imagined. Daz took a deep breath and tensed when she felt the pain. It was like every muscle in her body were screaming for morphine. And on top of that her lungs were burning with every breath she took.  
  
'I wonder how long have I been here', she thought and tried to move a bit more. She knew that she would definitely live, with pain at the moment but that would end in the future.  
  
'In my future...what future?' she thought when she remembered what Elmikk had done to her. Of course Daz had knew when she became a Sith apprentice that Mikk had killed her apprentices before, but she never expected it to happen to her.  
  
'Well it almost did' she snapped at herself. And now she'd have to decide what to do next. She was pretty sure that if she stayed she would be killed sooner or later because she needed answers and in order to get them she would have to ask many uncomfortable questions.  
  
After a moment of thinking she had come up with a plan. She would leave and go to get the answers she needed. Daz didn't waste any time. She got out of bed grimacing with pain and put on the clothes she found lying on a chair.  
  
Daz was lucky. She didn't meet anyone she would know on her way to the air taxi isle.  
  
When the Jedi temple came in to view she could almost cry of relief. She got out of the taxi and walked to the door. Before Daz could knock someone came to talk to her.  
  
"Why are you here, Sith?" the Jedi hissed.  
  
"I'm here to find some answers. I hope that you have them. And just for the  
  
record I'm not a Sith."  
  
"What ever you say, Sith. I'm sorry but we can't afford to take you in."  
  
"Fine. You do what you have to and I do what I have to." Daz said feeling suddenly so tired. She turned around and started to walk away when she had to stop. She felt so weak and then she realised that she was bleeding. But her  
  
pride didn't let her to turn back and beg for help so she just lift her chin up and started walking away.  
  
After a couple steps Daz collapsed on the ground.  
  
The Jedi crouched beside her and checked for vital signs. He was no more than a padawan, a 17 -year-old. "This is padawan Skywalker. I need a medic team on platform 19. There's a young female human here passed out, and she's not breathing," he said on his comlink. "Hurry, I suspect she might be a Sith."  
  
TBC  
  
Elle-ripley: Don't worry, we're not going to stop yet. ;) And to your question Mikk has mixed feelings. She is not supposed to care about Daz. But she founds herself doing that every now and then. 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
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Chapter 6  
  
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"Padawan, I don't know how you base your suspicions. I don't sense anything dark at all," a voice echoed in Dazlio's dull mind.  
  
"But I DID feel it master, maybe she can hide it even in sleep," said another, child-like voice.  
  
"Obi-Wan, please take him to your quarters to calm down and come back here. Anakin, there's no need to panic, it's completely normal for young ones to have disturbing emotions every now and then. You are not as adept with the Force yet as us."  
  
"Yes, master Windu," the boy said, disappointment clear in his tone.  
  
She had probably been unconscious for a while, because now when she listened Obi-Wan was back.  
  
"...Yes, you may see her in a while. Master Windu, here's the girl's mother."  
  
Mother? Daz's eyes opened immediately. She saw Elmikk through the glass of the door window. She talked with Obi-Wan and another Jedi, that Windu guy. Daz was lying in a hospital bed, probably in the Jedi Temple's infirmary. She glanced around and saw dozens of other beds, some occupied, beside hers. The lights were dim blue. There were no healers around at the moment so it couldn't be the emergency ward.  
  
"I'm so relieved to know she's safe here," Elmikk said. "She ran away from the hospital where she was treated."  
  
Daz forced herself sitting up and looked at the equipment attached to her body. She pulled the oxygen mask off and checked she could breath without it.  
  
"May I ask what caused her injury?"  
  
With a glance Daz shut down the heart beat monitor.  
  
"Kenobi, you saw my date at senator Palpatine's birthday. I think that... he might be a dark Jedi."  
  
"A Sith."  
  
"Yes. I found Dazlio near our home, she was lying on the ground with blood all over..."  
  
Elmikk's voice faded away and she started sobbing. Fake!  
  
Daz pulled out the medication tubes that were injected in the underside of her wrists and ripped the monitor cable ends off her chest.  
  
"She didn't remember a lot about what happened, but I can surely tell it was him out of her description. And she said he had a two-blade lightsabre."  
  
Daz slid her feet carefully on the floor and ran through another door.  
  
"She's become delusional and she possibly ran away because of a nightmare. You have to guard her so she won't get hurt again."  
  
"We will. You can see her now."  
  
Mace opened the door and stopped. There was no one on the bed.  
  
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Daz sneaked in the infirmary corridors. She couldn't let Elmikk find her. She didn't want to become a Sith anymore!  
  
"Attention all wards! A female human patient is missing. She's dangerous to herself and maybe to others."  
  
Her chest heaved. She had to get out somehow. She could survive; the wound was a lot better. If she only could get away...  
  
She heard a noise behind her and when she turned around she saw Elmikk and the Jedi looking straight at her. She ran to the opposite direction and snatched a blaster from a surprised guard.  
  
However hard she tried, she was eventually cornered. With her back against the wall she aimed her blaster at the people surrounding her.  
  
"Let me go or I'll shoot her!" She pointed at Elmikk. "She's a Sith, you need to capture her. She was the one who almost killed me!"  
  
/Is this your way of thanking me of all the training I gave?/ Daz jumped. She'd never heard Elmikk speak through the Force.  
  
Elmikk got closer to Daz. "Honey, just please give me the blaster. You know you don't want to hurt me. I'm your mother." Daz' breath quickened and her vision blurred.  
  
/You won't win in this game, I'm way out of your league./  
  
She saw her hand open and drop the gun to the floor. Elmikk took it and watched as a couple of nurses pinned Daz to the ground and pushed a needle on the left side of her neck.  
  
She didn't break the eye contact with Mikk before her eyes reluctantly closed as she fell asleep.  
  
TBC 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
Special thanks to our friend Marco for betaing this chapter. :)  
  
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Chapter 7  
  
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Daz let her gaze wander about the room, searching for a chrono. "How long have I been out?"  
  
"About 24 hours. But you've been away from our hideout for almost two weeks now."  
  
"Two WEEKS?" She sat up and was pushed back by Mikk.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"That means I'm 20 years old now..."  
  
"... so you would have attended your rite of passage by now."  
  
Dazlio shuddered. The rite of passage meant a series of assignments testing Force abilities and strenght. The last of them was dueling until the other got killed. If you passed you would become a senior apprentice with much more freedom and difficult missions.  
  
The dueling partner was usually a kidnapped Jedi padawan nearing knighthood. The reason why there were so few Sith was because most of the Sith apprentices lost the battle. The Jedi however got killed anyway even though they won. Sidious couldn't release them for obvious reasons.  
  
"You can not leave the Jedi temple," said Elmikk suddenly, waking Dazlio out of her reverie. It had looked almost as her former apprentice had fallen asleep with her eyes open.  
  
"What? How come?" Daz still was a bit confused, although she wasn't given any pain killers anymore.  
  
"You will not be safe. I can no longer protect you from Maul if Sidious tells him to kill you. And what do you think he would say if I told I just let you go?"  
  
"He - would punish you again." Not that she wouldn't deserve it, Daz thought.  
  
"Yes. And I don't think I can afford any more mistakes."  
  
"I'm still not coming back."  
  
Elmikk stood up and went for the door, sighing desperately. "I believe you. I'll tell the Jedi to protect you from Maul." She was halfway out of the room when she realised something.  
  
"But..." Her gaze traveled first on the roof, then she looked straight at Dazlio. "...if my master tells me to kill you I will do it, no matter what I feel for you or what might happen to me."  
  
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Elmikk entered Senator Palpatine's office. He hardly ever summoned her here so it must be something urgent.  
  
Palpatine turned to her behind his desk. The Dark Side was clearly wearing his form and he looked older than others of his age. You couldn't make out his face when under the hood.  
  
"I hear you came back last night without your apprentice," he said coolly, dissapointment clear in his voice. Elmikk felt nauseous. She had failed yet again.  
  
"She is unwilling to leave the Jedi temple," Mikk explained without a hint of fear in her voice. She would face anything her master thought was appropriate.  
  
"I can't force her to go - she would cause an uproar that would reveal us both. She's almost healed now and nobody thinks she's hallucinating anymore."  
  
Why was she still alive?  
  
Palpatine didn't look angry, no, he was just thoughtful. She waited for some minutes before he spoke.  
  
"Yes... I've foreseen she will not cooperate. But she can't get out of the Temple alive, I will assure that. And we actually have a great advantage. See, I've been eyeing a Jedi padawan that is so full of fear and negative thoughts I ever wonder why the Jedi let him in the Temple."  
  
"But, my lord, what does this have to do with Dazlio?"  
  
"The padawan I seek is Anakin Skywalker. His master, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a friend of Dazlio's. The two will surely visit her. You will bring him before me by any means necessary."  
  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
To tell the truth Elmikk was suprised that Palpatine wasn't furious because Dazlio was still alive. Not even a bit. On the other hand, Mikk admitted to herself, nobody could ever tell what her lord was thinking or feeling.  
  
"And you know what will happen if you fail in this task, don't you?" Palpatine's voice was cold as ice.  
  
"Yes, I know."  
  
"Good. You'll go there first thing tomorrow." Palpatine turned his back to Elmikk which meant that she should leave before he changed his mind. And so she left.  
  
Mikk knew that she would have to make some decisions and stick to them in the future. Like she had to decide what to tell her apprentice. The truth?  
  
No.  
  
Obviously Daz wasn't reliable enough to know her master's mission. But she would have to tell her something. But then what? And no matter how much she thought she couldn't come up with a proper plan.  
  
Late that night Mikk climbed onto her bed. She was exhausted with all the thinking and mental stress she had gone trough that day. 'Well I think all I can do is trust my instincts on this one."  
  
And soon she was asleep.  
  
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It felt so good just sit in the cafeteria instead of lying in a hospital bed.  
  
Well at least Daz thought so. Her seat was in some distant corner and it was a perfect place to observe people. The cafeteria was crowded but nobody really had the courage to sit next to her. This made her feel like an outsider. She didn't really belong anywhere and the thought made her sad.  
  
After a while she met a pair of sad eyes too. Those eyes had already accepted the fact that their owner would be always alone. Those eyes belonged to a young man and for some reason it made Daz sad.  
  
When the other padawans were having a great time joking with each other this one seemed left out. Looking around for a free place to sit down the padawan finally spotted Dazlio. He started to walk toward her table.  
  
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" The padawan asked.  
  
"No." Was Daz' answer and he sat down.  
  
"You must be very brave, no one else had the courage to sit next to me." Daz said.  
  
The padawan looked at her. "They're just afraid of us. But you understand."  
  
Yes. She understood. Then they sat in silence but somehow it was comforting. They both were alone but at least now they knew that there was someone else who was alone too.  
  
Suddenly Anakin got his face closer to Daz. "I'm right, aren't I?"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"That you are a Sith. I guess you're still an apprentice, else you would be able to hide all the hate."  
  
Daz sneered. "Maybe I don't even want to."  
  
Anakin's face was indifferent. "I think I understand... I'm having a lot of trouble when I can't submiss my emotions."  
  
She stopped picking at her food and looked at him arrogantly. "No you don't. We don't seek to submiss our emotions but to effectively aim them against the enemy." Then she remembered how wrong it all felt and her face saddened. "But that's all behind me now. Strange though that you're the only one who sees through my shields."  
  
"I am the Chosen One. My Force abilities outrun other Jedi. I can sense things they can't. But they don't listen to me. They say it happens on youth. And look what they've done: released a Sith in the middle of a Temple cafeteria. You shouldn't be here."  
  
"I'm no longer a Sith, I just told you. I'd just love to get out of here and have a normal happy life but I can't, because the moment I step outside I'll get slaughtered!" She took her tray and left.  
  
TBC 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: See chapter 1  
  
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Chapter 8  
  
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She ran all the way to the little apartment she had in the Temple. Once the door was closed she leant against it and slid down. The padawan was surely convincing someone about her identity. Soon they would come and imprison her. She couldn't even try to escape because Sidious' goons were surely patrolling outside.  
  
She got up and reached for the knife in the kitchenette... no, that would have been too easy.  
  
Really, could there be any worse than being tortured every single day no matter how well you succeeded? The Jedi wouldn't do that; they wouldn't kill her if she didn't fight back. Maybe she would be better off here than dead.  
  
The door bell chimed. She opened the door without daring to count the number of life forms behind it at first.  
  
There was only Anakin. "Let me make a deal with you. You'll tell me all about your life and I'll find a way to set you free."  
  
Dazlio just stood there. 'Now, why should I let him in? How can I trust him?'  
  
"Please." Anakin begged. He wasn't sure why, but he begged.  
  
Then the door opened. He entered.  
  
Daz led him in the kitchen. And then she turned. "How do I know that I can trust you?"  
  
"You don't. Look all I can say is that I know what it's like to be alone. And I've seen it in your eyes that you are alone too."  
  
"I'm not alone." Daz tried to say but Anakin interrupted her. "Yes you are. Don't deny it. I can see it. There really isn't anyone who you can talk to. There is nobody who you trust. But you know what, someday you'll have to trust someone and that day just might be today."  
  
Dazlio thought hard for a while. Then she sighed. "All right. Would you like to have something to drink?"  
  
"Tea is fine."  
  
Daz made two cups of tea and then sat in front of him. There was a silence.  
  
"The first thing I remember is my family. They're all dead. Slaughtered. And I can't tell who did it." It was hard to talk. She hadn't told anyone about those memories. "Then I was taken to the - I'm sorry, I don't even know the name of the place where I spend most of my life. Well anyway, when I was ten I became an apprentice. Yes, I was going to be a Sith. At first I was afraid because my master had killed two of her previous apprentices. She beat them to death."  
  
There was a pause. Anakin didn't dare to say anything. He just waited.  
  
"I learned combat skills. How to use a two-bladed lightsabre. I learned politics. How to hide my feelings. How to obey without questions. That was a hard thing for me."  
  
"But worst of all, nothing was ever enough for my master." She chuckled bitterly. "No matter how hard I tried I always got hurt at the end. Every day. I think physical punishments begun when I was thirteen. You know what my master did? She pushed a dagger through my wrist!" She sighed. "Since then, I've probably gone through every possible way of torture."  
  
Anakin shook his head in disbelief. How could anyone be so cruel? But then again, this was Sith upbringing she was talking about.  
  
"I have this strange feeling not even the slaves of Tatooine got beaten so much as I did."  
  
Anakin flinched at the mention. "No, you're right. I was never treated THAT bad."  
  
"Wha- you were a slave? On Tatooine?"  
  
"Yes. But I was freed and taken in the Jedi Temple." He told her what had happened seven years ago. All about Qui-Gon, the battle of Naboo, the strange Sith that appeared to be no other than Darth Maul.  
  
The two, despite of opposite training methods, found so much alike. Both had masters that hardly ever gave them credit. Both were frustrated and captived inside when there was a Galaxy out there to conquer. Both had lost their family. And both felt afraid of their inappropriate emotions, something they discussed with someone for the first time now.  
  
"You looked quite dreadful when you appeared on the Temple door the other day. You were trying to escape your master, right?"  
  
"Yes. I was afraid and the only thing I could think of was to ask Jedi for help. I guess you could call it chance that I passed out, else you wouldn't have let me in."  
  
"Well, I just couldn't leave you to die. Besides, I thought they would have imprisoned you." He smiled. "Maybe it was a good thing they didn't, else I'd never get to know you."  
  
"I think so, too." She smiled back, something she had done only during the rare fun hours with Elmikk.  
  
"I don't know what to think about my master. Mostly she looks down on me, however she just can't be totally indifferent. And I think the fact she almost killed me made her realize that."  
  
"And now she even made a cover story for you," he added.  
  
Daz nodded. "I know we don't have a bond like you Jedi do but sometimes I feel her care. Actually I think that's one of the only things that has kept me going. I would have had several possibilities to kill myself, believe me, after this all I'm not afraid of dying if it happens quick. But I've been too curious to give up."  
  
They chatted for a long time still, having finished many cups of tea and a couple of sandwiches as well. Finally Anakin had to leave for his evening training session. Dazlio decided to follow along. Why on Coruscant would she miss seeing Anakin and Obi-Wan, two of the most gorgeous men she'd ever met, sparring (maybe their shirts off)? She locked the door, grabbing Anakin's elbow.  
  
A red haired Sith was lurking behind the corner. Luring Anakin would be much easier than she thought. Elmikk knew it would mean putting the girl in serious danger, but what else could she do? Sidious' patience was wearing out.  
  
TBC 


End file.
